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Mayor of Argentina’s Bariloche resort town ousted

(AP) BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - The mayor of Bariloche in Argentina is out of a job after a wave of shop-looting in the Andean resort town.

The city council voted 10-1 on Friday to remove him for malfeasance, ineptitude and negligence related in large part to a looting spree that broke out just before Christmas.

Mayor Omar Goye accepted his suspension but refused to resign, setting up a popular referendum in April that he says he hopes to win.

Goye was a loyal supporter of President Cristina Fernandez’s populist government but lost political support after slum dwellers looted the city’s stores on December 20. Federal forces had to be called in to contain the violence. Copycat looting then spread across several Argentine cities.